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12,868 spoken contributions under 12 words (interjections such as “Will the hon. Member give way?”) are hidden. Show them

1. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Cat Eccles

   Draft West Midlands Combined Authority (Key Route Network) (Amendment) Order 2026

   If I may bring us back to the West Midlands Combined Authority and the relevance of this delegated legislation, I think I am the only Member on the Committee who represents the west midlands, and the absence of this change has meant that we have been prevented from implementing important road safety strategies to reduce speed and accidents on our roads. Does the shadow Minister agree that the draft regulations are good news and that we should perhaps focus on that element of this debate?

   Hansard source
2. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Cat Eccles

   Climate Change: Resilience Planning

   During the heatwave a fortnight ago, I was contacted by the head of Oldswinford primary school in my constituency, who felt that the Government’s advice on keeping the building cool for children did not adequately reflect the challenges. I know that this feeling was shared by other schools around the country and the National Education Union. I was also contacted by bus drivers and office workers. What is the Minister doing to ensure that schools and workplaces are resilient to increased and sustained temperatures in the future?

   Hansard source
3. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Carolyn Harris

   Future of British Horseracing

   Order. The last two interventions were long enough to be speeches. I cannot allow interventions of that length. There is a process where you apply to speak and you will be called to make a speech, but interventions need to be short, as the name suggests.

   Hansard source
4. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Carolyn Harris

   Future of British Horseracing

   I remind hon. Members to bob if they wish to be called in the debate, and they should be brief. I intend to call the Front Benchers at 3.28 pm, and I suggest that all interventions be kept short.

   Hansard source
5. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Carolyn Harris

   Human Rights in Kashmir

   I remind Members that they need to stand if they intend to speak, as there are a lot more people in the Chamber than on my list, and that you need to have been here at the start of the debate to be able to make a speech.

   Hansard source
6. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Carolyn Harris

   Human Rights in Kashmir

   I intend to start the Front-Bench speeches at 5.8 pm. Will Members please make sure that they keep their remarks as short as possible?

   Hansard source
7. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Brian Leishman

   Climate Change: Resilience Planning

   What is not helping climate change is transporting fuel from the Stanlow refinery to Scottish airports. This negatively impacts the environment, increases pressure on road infrastructure and will reduce employment and negatively impact Scottish supply chains. Are the Government concerned about the future of fuel distribution in Scotland, and if not, may I respectfully and politely suggest that they should be?

   Hansard source
8. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Brian Leishman

   Early Release of Prisoners

   It is right first to acknowledge the condition of our prison estate, the issues with capacity and the impact it all has overall on our criminal justice system. I associate myself with the Justice Minister’s comments on all of that from earlier. I want to say early on in my contribution that I will not get involved in a political tit-for-tat on who did what or who did not do something when they were in power. This is far too serious an issue for people, and to sink to political point scoring leaves a bad taste in my mouth and does no one any good whatsoever. People convicted of sexual abuse against an adult or child, of rape, of grooming or of the attempt, conspiracy or incitement of offences should not be allowed early release from prison. That is not a left-wing or right-wing political debate; it is what is just and right for survivors. Looking closer to home in my constituency, the statistics in Clackmannanshire show that it is the most dangerous place in Scotland for women and young girls to grow up in. I have been fortunate enough to visit support groups and mental health organisations and to meet volunteers in my constituency. I have heard from women and also from men who have survived rape, sexual abuse and other indescribable things. They may be at home watching this debate, and they and the people in the Gallery will be looking at the discourse in this debate. What should be at the front of all our contributions is the welfare of survivors, because I have heard from survivors, and many tell me that they feel like an afterthought when it comes to receiving justice. It is not right that they should live in fear and terror that the person who committed the offence could be released early. Survivors must matter above all else. Convicted sex offenders should serve the entirety of their sentence, and I urge the Government to adopt that and reflect on what my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Wavertree (Paula Barker) said in her earlier intervention.

   Hansard source
9. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Brian Leishman

   Speed Limits in Torwood Village

   I present this petition on behalf of my constituents in Torwood village, who are incredibly concerned about excessive speeding, which is negatively impacting their quality of life through increased noise pollution and which also poses a serious danger to their and road users’ safety. I note that the petition I present today builds on a similar petition that 75 local people have signed, showing the strength of feeling about this issue in Torwood. The petition requests “that the House of Commons urges the Government to encourage Falkirk Council to introduce a reduction in speed limit to 20 or 30 miles per hour in Torwood Village to enhance the safety and wellbeing of the village community.” Following is the full text of the petition: [The petition of residents of the constituency of Alloa and Grangemouth, Declares that the village community of Torwood has seen a significant rise in traffic, including heavy freight, since Forth Valley Hospital and a new slip road from the nearby M876 were opened; further declares that this poses a risk to residents’ safety as they attempt to cross busy roads, for example to access public transport, or use their own cars; and further declares that the noise pollution from the increased vehicle traffic is disturbing local residents during the day and night and reducing comfort in living in the area. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to encourage Falkirk Council to introduce a reduction in speed limit to 20 or 30 miles per hour in Torwood Village to enhance the safety and wellbeing of the village community. And the petitioners remain, etc.] [P003214]

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10. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

    Summer Jobs

    It is a pleasure to close this debate after so many thoughtful contributions from hon. Members across the House. Many difficult questions have been raised. I thought of following the example of the soon-to-be-former hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) in just resigning to avoid those difficult questions—[Interruption.]. I will resist the encouragement. It has been fantastic to listen to hon. Members talking about their own experience of Saturday and summer jobs. It allowed me to imagine the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton) running around with multiple plates balanced on her arms, and the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson) getting busy with his chamois. I pictured the hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Douglas Lumsden), who I belatedly welcome to his position, as a postie in shorts, fighting the rain coming off the North sea. I pictured the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) with long, flowing locks getting busy scrubbing pots in the Italian sunshine. That was important, because it allowed me to picture Conservative MPs doing something productive. More importantly and seriously, it was a reminder of the importance of our first employment experiences in making ourselves into fully rounded human beings and workers. My job was working on Saturdays before going to university and in the summers at Beveridge fishmongers’ in Giffnock. The antisocial teenager in me would want to be in the back of the shop filleting something, but every time a customer came in I had to remake myself and find confidence all over again. It is in no way an overstatement to say that all the Saturday and summer jobs that hon. Members have spoken about are why we are all here. They gave us that first chance and opportunity to find confidence in ourselves, as many hon. and right hon. Members have said. However, I will caution Conservative Members. Yes, this is about experience and people finding an opportunity and, as some have said, avoiding the long-term scarring effect of youth unemployment, but for many young workers this is about paying the bills. These jobs are not a nice additional thing. I think of the young woman with a family who I met; she had a zero-hours contract and simply did not know from month to month whether she would be able to pay her rent or take her kids to anything special. My hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Sean Woodcock) spoke powerfully about how insecurity in the workplace is linked to the health of the economy. When people’s incomes are hollowed out, it hollows out the centre of our towns and ends up in the empty high street shops that we see.

    Hansard source
11. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

    Summer Jobs

    The reason I am responding to the debate by talking about the impact of zero-hours contracts is that Conservative Member after Conservative Member rose to speak in defence of those contracts. Of course, many people value flexibility in the workplace, but some employers have used that flexibility to take advantage of their employees, including young employees.

    Hansard source
12. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

    Summer Jobs

    I am very happy to welcome that summer school from the Dispatch Box, and I congratulate my hon. Friend on getting that into Hansard. I also congratulate him on teaching those students a lesson about the hypocrisy from the Conservative Benches, which they will get used to. Many hon. Members spoke about seasonal workers as if the legislation was somehow going to force seasonal contracts to be permanent contracts. That is simply not the case—where people genuinely value that flexibility in the workplace, they will be able to continue to work in that way.

    Hansard source
13. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

    Summer Jobs

    Where the workers that the hon. Member describes feel that way, they will not have to change their contracts. We are talking about the people who work for the same employer as their main job, week after week, without any certainty of income. The right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) said that only 3% of workers rely on a zero-hours contract as their main job. That is one in 25 workers. [Interruption.] In his constituency, there are 60,000 people of working age, meaning that hundreds of people in his constituency do not have the right to regular hours.

    Hansard source
14. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

    Summer Jobs

    I will take the right hon. Member’s intervention. Maybe he can say why he thinks those hundreds of workers in his constituency should not have the right to full-time employment.

    Hansard source
15. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

    Summer Jobs

    Those people will still be able to have those contracts under the legislation, but we are talking about potentially hundreds of people in the right hon. Member’s constituency—that was his formulation—who rely on zero-hours contracts as their main form of employment, with no certainty of income from month to month. That cannot go on in this country; it is fundamentally unfair. Several Conservative Members mentioned business rates, which the Government take incredibly seriously. The Conservative party began the revaluation without any plans whatsoever for any transitional support or relief for the people affected by it; Labour introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion to protect ratepayers from seeing large overnight bill increases because of that revaluation. As my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda and Ogmore (Chris Bryant) said, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases this year, and 23% will see their bills go down. Plenty of arguments could be made about whether we have gone far enough and how far our continued reforms of business rates should continue, and my colleagues in the Treasury will do that, but for members of a party that had no plans for any relief whatsoever to be saying now that they will spend £4 billion on abolishing those rates altogether, without saying where it will come from, is frankly ridiculous. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire (Jonathan Davies) mentioned the great British savings this summer, and made a very fair request for those in the Treasury, as they look at the overall impact of that, to look at the impact on individual young people as well. Many Opposition Members rightly raised the impact of increased national insurance contributions. As I have said before from the Dispatch Box, we recognise that that was a big ask of business, but what it did was say to the international money markets that we were a serious country again. That has been seen in lower mortgages, and in lower borrowing rates for businesses. I understand the genuine concern expressed by Opposition Members about the impact on youth employment, but I would say that it is at best a partial explanation, given that employers of workers under the age of 21 and those employing young apprentices do not pay national insurance. The hon. Members for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Mohindra) and for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti) and the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green suggested that whenever a Government add to existing business costs, we should think about the cumulative impact rather than viewing it in isolation, and that is an entirely fair argument. Every time we ask something of businesses, that gives us in government a further incentive and, indeed, responsibility to do more to remove costs from them. That is precisely why, through the £2.5 billion youth guarantee package, businesses are being given a £3,000 incentive to employ 18 to 24-year-olds who are at risk of long-term unemployment, a £2,000 incentive to hire foundational apprentices, a further £2,000 to hire apprentices aged between 16 and 24, and fully funded costs for 16 to 24-year-old apprentices. That, of course, is on top of all the other work that we are doing to reduce the costs on business.

    Hansard source
16. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

    Summer Jobs

    As was said earlier, we believe that people working full time should be able to afford the basics in life. My point is that we are dealing with the issue of youth unemployment by incentivising businesses to employ young people. Many Opposition Members mentioned red tape. They will not have to wait terribly long to see the work that the Secretary of State and I have been doing to reduce the administrative burden on business. Many others spoke about additional costs being imposed on business. Let me remind them that our target to reduce that administrative burden by £5.6 billion is a net target, and they will not have to wait very long to see the progress that we have made in that regard.

    Hansard source
17. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Blair McDougall

    Summer Jobs

    Of course he does. It is in the Labour party manifesto. He has spoken about backing our industrial strategy, and this is an incredibly important part of it. The hon. Member for Exmouth and Exeter East (David Reed) spoke about how beautiful his constituency was. [Interruption.] Yes, I know—I am looking at him. Later this month I shall be on my way to a holiday in Cornwall, and perhaps I will stop off in his constituency with my family. So many Opposition Members spoke of our imposing a tourism tax on local areas, but there will be no such imposition. This is devolution, allowing local areas to decide whether they want to invest in that or not. I can confirm that we will not move our amendment, but this Government are proud to be taking employment law into the 21st century, proud that we are rebalancing business rates for smaller businesses to help young people get jobs, and proud that we are backing our high streets. We have commissioned Alan Milburn to investigate the high level of youth unemployment, and we look forward to the publication of his final report in the autumn. The report will be backed by evidence and the real experiences of young people in a changing labour market. What it will not be based on is outdated, Dickensian ideas of getting 13-year-olds working late into the night before school. This Labour Government will act, and these reforms will deliver the national renewal that our country needs.

    Hansard source
18. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Bill Esterson

    Nuclear Energy Sites: Scotland

    As the Minister has just said, new nuclear is essential for energy security. It is also essential as an alternative career for workers in oil and gas. Does the Minister agree that by blocking new nuclear in Scotland—in contrast to what is happening in England and Wales—the Scottish Government are undermining not just the energy transition and our energy security, but alternative jobs for the very people whom they claim to represent?

    Hansard source
19. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Becky Gittins

    Independent Schools: Regulation of Proprietors

    As my hon. Friend mentioned, Ruthin school in my constituency is also owned by Galaxy Global Education. As of last week, with the abrupt closure of the school, which is thought to be one of the oldest—if not the oldest—independent schools in the UK, parents were left bewildered, having prepaid for the next term, and staff were left without any employment rights discussions or proper redundancy processes. Most importantly, students were left devastated, not knowing about their future. Does she agree that this is a really important call for more transparency and the ability to hold any such organisations that propose to educate our young people to account?

    Hansard source
20. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Becky Gittins

    Independent Schools: Regulation of Proprietors

    In the light of what we have heard this evening, does the Minister agree that the case of Galaxy Global Education warrants the Department for Education’s considering the recording of information about not only who is running independent schools, but the ownership of independent schools? Will she meet me and other affected MPs, alongside colleagues in DBT, to ensure that, where there are issues of widespread foreign ownership and business malpractice, we can get together and eradicate them from our independent schools sector?

    Hansard source
21. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Bambos Charalambous

    UK Aid Policy: Global Funding Trends

    The right hon. Gentleman has talked about stretched budgets. Does he agree that we also need to address debt, because private debt is a big factor in preventing some low-income countries from investing in their health and education systems? It should form part of the Government’s strategy to leverage more money into debt-distressed, low-income countries.

    Hansard source
22. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Baggy Shanker

    Small Modular Reactors: Jobs

    9. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of small modular reactors on job opportunities. [R]

    Hansard source
23. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Baggy Shanker

    Small Modular Reactors: Jobs

    I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests relating to Rolls-Royce. By backing SMRs, which the previous Government failed to do, this Government are backing Britain, delivering stronger energy security and good, skilled jobs in Derby and across the UK. Does the Minister agree that, in order to boost the benefits for our brilliant small and medium-sized businesses, at least 70% of the SMR supply chain must be built here in Britain?

    Hansard source
24. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Alistair Strathern

    Summer Jobs

    I am grateful to the official Opposition for giving us all an opportunity to reminisce about our own summer jobs. Probably many more years ago than I would care to admit, I was lucky enough to work both as a cleaner and at my local Co-op to help pay my way through the summer. Both those jobs were important to me; they not only stopped my mum murdering me for being around the house too much, but provided that crucial introduction to the world of work, and an opportunity to start to establish some of the disciplines and awarenesses of life that have served me, I should like to think, reasonably well over my 36 years on this planet—

    Hansard source
25. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Alistair Strathern

    Summer Jobs

    I am grateful for the protestations from the Front Bench. Those jobs were also crucial in starting to form my politics. In both settings, I was incredibly lucky to work with some fantastic colleagues. Not only did my clumsiness—from spilled buckets to broken bottles in the aisles—mean that I often relied on their generosity and patience with my ineptitude, but they gave me a window into lives that were very different from mine to date. There were similarities between those two jobs. Both sets of people worked in industries in which the minimum wage had been crucial to driving up their security and sense of prosperity. They were grateful for that, and as a result there was a great deal of support for the Labour Government at the time. However, there was one crucial difference. At the Co-op, those with whom I worked had regular contracts, secure work and good terms. They were supported by a recognised trade union, and felt a comfort and security in their jobs that was denied to many of those with whom I worked cleaning local schools. There, the practical realities of limited terms and conditions, and insecure work with non-guaranteed hours, were not artefacts of a contract or remote bureaucracy; they were tangible insecurities that hung over people’s day-to-day lives, and undermined their sense of security and ability to plan with confidence for the future that they wanted to provide for their family. That is why, many years down the line, I am proud to be part of a Labour Government who are delivering a record expansion of workplace rights through the Employment Rights Act 2025, and why the fundamental vision of protecting workers and ensuring a minimum social contract for those working hard for their families and doing right by their communities will always be foundational to my politics. We come here not to embrace the contradictions and tensions that inhibit social change and progress, but to be creative enough and bold enough to lead the country, and to lead the way to a better economic settlement for the working families whom we are here to serve. That is why the minimum wage has been so transformational for our country, and why we have weekends now. I am very confident that in time, the Employment Rights Act will prove to be a big step forward for so many of the working people I am proud to represent. That does not mean that every aspect will always be perfect. Consultations with businesses and employers will be foundational in ensuring that we get the nuances right, when we look at how things play out in different employment settings, but the fundamental principle is this: my constituents and the cleaners I worked with deserve more confidence and security in their employment. That is exactly why I feel completely at home on the Government Benches, with my Labour colleagues. The Conservatives’ motion raises important issues. It is absolutely right to say that, over many years, we have not done enough collectively to bear down on some of the barriers to young people getting employment. We are doing a lot of work on that, but there is a lot more that we need to do. I am really glad that this Government are waking up to the need to do far more on vocational skills and apprenticeships. They are thinking about how we can reform qualifications to ensure greater alignment with our industrial strategy, and the growth opportunities that will come from industrial changes, but they are also breaking down practical barriers to accessing opportunities for young people in my communities and right across the country. The Government are introducing foundational apprenticeships, and are making sure that they are in reach of the hardest-to-reach young people—those who are desperately in need of the steps into work that apprenticeships can provide. They are reforming levies to make it cheaper for employers to take on apprentices and give them the training that they desperately deserve.

    Hansard source
26. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Alistair Strathern

    Summer Jobs

    I absolutely agree that we need to invest in apprenticeships to ensure that many more young people can access them, as well as work placement opportunities in their communities. That is why I welcome the spotlight that the Milburn review is already starting to shine, forensically, on barriers to young people accessing such opportunities. I am really keen to ensure that the Government lean into the practical implications of his diagnosis that we need to shift more money from supporting young people who are out of work into helping them into good paid work. I am very proud to have supported the Government’s jobs guarantee, and of the wider work that we are doing to ensure that employers in my community and right across the country are practically and financially incentivised to bring young people into the world of work and supported to train them up, so that those young people can benefit from opportunities that feel out of reach to far too many of them at the moment. That is an approach that we need to thread into all our work in this space. I was very moved by the conversations that Gareth Southgate had in last month’s documentary, in which young men who had been out of work for a very long time spoke of the impact it had on their self-esteem. It reflected issues with their confidence that had been long in the making. It reflected how they felt in their communities, and how they felt they were treated at school. Putting that right requires a continued focus on curriculum reform and place-based investment, but I would like the Government to go further in embracing the recommendations of the recent review on white working-class underachievement at school, to make sure that every young person, no matter what community they live in or where they come from, has no barriers to succeeding, and can feel confident in their ability to succeed at school. In a moment of agreement, let me agree with the Conservative party’s diagnosis that we need to go slightly further on business rates to support fantastic local employers in doing more for young people. I think the Conservatives are being slightly cheeky in skirting the fact that the plans we inherited from them would have seen a huge cliff-edge increase in business rates. The many financial pressures that we have had to juggle since coming into government have meant that it has been challenging to balance things. I approve of the work that we have done to try to ease some of the multipliers, and I would like us to go further still. I also approve of the work that we have done to give further discounts to pubs, given that they have been in decline for decades, and I would like us to go further still there. Fundamentally, however, the plans we inherited from the last Government would have been completely disastrous for the very businesses whose virtues the Conservatives are espousing today. If the Conservatives are so passionate about the errors of the Government’s choices on the minimum wage and national insurance, I encourage them to be bolder, and to do more than just offer regret, because regret will not change a single aspect of those policies’ implications. If they are genuinely confident that there are better ways to plug the gaps in our public finances and improve our public services, why are they not committing to reversing the national insurance hikes? If they genuinely believe that the minimum wage has gone up too far, why are they not embracing the practical end point of that argument by suggesting that they would cut it? Maybe it is because, much as they like to complain about the implications of our policies, they begrudgingly recognise that in the incredibly difficult circumstances that we inherited, both those choices may well have been right. I look forward to a Conservative Member proving me wrong. I thank the many Members who have shared their fantastic experiences of summer work, and the many colleagues with whom it has been inspiring to work on some of these issues, including staff from Amazing Apprenticeships, a charity in my constituency that does genuinely amazing work to boost apprenticeship opportunities for young people across the country. I look forward to continuing to work with them as the Government bring forward the Milburn review.

    Hansard source
27. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Adam Thompson

    Climate Change: Weather Events

    7. What steps he plans to take following recent weather events to help tackle climate change.

    Hansard source
28. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Labour·Adam Thompson

    Climate Change: Weather Events

    While many of our ongoing discussions in this House rightly focus on decarbonising heating, climate change means that cooling is becoming increasingly important, too, particularly in the context of our recent extreme heatwaves. As these heatwaves become increasingly frequent, homes and businesses in Erewash and across the country increasingly need cooling as well as heating. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that the growing demand for air conditioning is met through energy-efficient technologies and clean electricity, so that adaptation to climate change does not come at the expense of our net zero goals?

    Hansard source
29. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Seamus Logan

    Climate Change: Resilience Planning

    One of the Department’s key planks in tackling climate change is carbon capture. Given the Government’s difficulties around the defence investment plan and the need to find allegedly an extra £5 billion, can the Minister confirm her Department’s continuing support for the Acorn Project at St Fergus in my constituency?

    Hansard source
30. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Graham Leadbitter

    Nuclear Energy Sites: Scotland

    6. Whether he held discussions with the Scottish Government and local authorities prior to announcing potential nuclear energy sites in Scotland.

    Hansard source
31. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Graham Leadbitter

    Nuclear Energy Sites: Scotland

    Two years ago, Labour promised to cut bills for every household by £300. Not only are households now paying hundreds of pounds more instead of less, but Labour’s nuclear tax on household energy bills will cost Scots a further £300 million over the next decade. The Minister knows that Scottish energy consumers pay among the highest electricity prices in the UK; he knows that there are serious alternatives that are quicker to implement and could actually reduce bills, such as geothermal energy; and he knows that the Government’s own figures for a nuclear waste disposal facility are up to £53 billion. With serious and far more cost-effective alternatives available, will the Minister listen to the Scottish people, stop the obsession with costly nuclear power that Scotland neither needs nor wants, and transfer energy power to—

    Hansard source
32. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Dave Doogan

    Summer Jobs

    The Minister is talking up the economic performance of the United Kingdom since his party took over in 2024. He is labouring the point about the first quarter of this year, but I detect that he is less confident about the second quarter—we will see what that brings. Youth unemployment stood at 626,000 last year, so with this fabulous economy, why has it gone up by 109,000? Why are there 109,000 more 16 to 24-year-olds out of work under this Government now than there were this time last year?

    Hansard source
33. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Dave Doogan

    Summer Jobs

    It is always nice to be the Minister’s first refusal. Have I put him off his stride?

    Hansard source
34. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·SNP·Dave Doogan

    Summer Jobs

    Looking to the future, a job vacancy has just come up in Clacton. It would be good to know whether the Labour party will be putting forward somebody of a youthful nature as its candidate. To get back to the core issue of the debate, the Minister, in his meandering rebuttal to the motion from His Majesty’s Opposition, talked about a £1 million fund to help people aged 16 to 24 get back into work. That would be £1.50 per unemployed person aged 16 to 24. If the Government applied that money just to the 109,000 extra unemployed young people over the past 12 months, it would not even be a tenner. Does the hon. Gentleman think that would make much of a difference?

    Hansard source
35. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Wera Hobhouse

    Future of British Horseracing

    I would like to add to the list of our glorious racecourses. Bath racecourse is Britain’s highest flat racecourse, and it adds so much to the community. We have plenty of races, but we also have family and big sporting events. It was also an important centre for the vaccination programme. It is not just horseracing; the whole city benefits from having a racecourse. As has already been said, we lose something great when they go. I would like to hear a bit more about how we can save our racecourses.

    Hansard source
36. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Wera Hobhouse

    Future of British Horseracing

    British horseracing gets significantly lower returns from the gambling industry than our neighbours France and Ireland. Does the right hon. Lady not agree that it is disappointing that betting levy reform did not deliver better support for the industry?

    Hansard source
37. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Wera Hobhouse

    Future of British Horseracing

    Does my hon. Friend agree that, with good intentions, the Government wanted to do something about gambling addiction, but so much gambling is now done on the black market? We should look at gambling addiction as a public health issue and look at other reforms to support the horseracing industry.

    Hansard source
38. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Wera Hobhouse

    Community-owned Renewable Energy

    The Energy Security and Net Zero Committee report on community energy, which I am sure the Minister has read, has raised concerns that community energy projects are at risk of being left behind unless there is clear guidance from the Government on how and when the necessary reforms will be implemented. Will the energy independence Bill establish a workable model so that community energy will be delivered as soon as possible?

    Hansard source
39. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Vikki Slade

    Topical Questions

    The Government have worked with Ofgem to bring forward low or no standing charge schemes, which are supposedly open for trial. I cannot find them and neither can my residents. The access to those schemes is so small, so what are the Government doing to make them available to more people now?

    Hansard source
40. 7 Jul 2026·Parliament·Lib Dem·Tim Farron

    Summer Jobs

    The hon. Gentleman is making some important points. Obviously, in some parts of the world, including mine, many jobs are on offer but it is hard for young people to take them up. Some 60% of employers in the hospitality and tourism industry in the Lake District find it difficult to recruit staff. One reason is the lack of public transport to get young people to the places where they are needed. Another reason is the lack of affordable housing. Does he recognise that this is a structural problem affecting young people everywhere, but particularly in rural areas such as Cumbria?

    Hansard source